Midterm elections are around the corner, and mail-in and absentee voting have become a larger part of the conversation. In North Carolina, absentee voting isn’t as popular as early voting or Election Day voting, but it provides voting access to college students, deployed members of the military, voters with disabilities and others.
A group of nonprofit organizations and two voters sued the North Carolina State Board of Elections and two county election boards over new absentee ballot rules, marking the first lawsuit of North Carolina’s 2026 election season.
This comes after the state board directed county election boards to spoil absentee ballots when voters do not seal the inner container-return envelope, regardless of whether the ballot is inside a sealed outer return envelope.
Nationally, the Trump administration has sowed mistrust and pushed for changes to absentee voting procedures across the country. We break down all this and more on this Charlotte Talks.
GUESTS:
Elleiana Green, editorial fellow and reporter at Politico
Jason Husser, professor of political science and public policy and director of the Elon Poll at Elon University
Laura Leslie, editor at NC Newsline
